"When do we get to Dantooine?" Calon said, watching at the holoscreen, showing a news alert that seemed to be very important.
"In a day or so, it's pretty far out in the Outer Rim." Lana said, leaning next to Calon. "We got plenty of time to get things ready."
"What about Raidek? What if someone recognizes him with a ragtime crew of felonious traitors and smugglers." She said, getting up and turning off the holoscreen. "How we are gonna sneak him through security?"
"What about that Gannis guy? He's from Dantooine I believe, he could help him sneak past since he knows that place better than us." Calon suggested, standing up. "Oh no, we are not asking that ass for help! We could do it ourselves, we just need to figure out a plan."
Calon rolled his eyes. "Oh yeah, I forgot how you two met." He strolled over to the holoprojector and inserted the comcode to contact Gannis. "We ourselves are perfectly capable of sneaking Raidek in." Lana defended, not trying to get the pilot involved.
"That's not what I'm saying Lana. I'm saying we meet him at a stop, and then hand him Raidek to take to the planet." He said, as he began activating his call.
"I'm just saying that someone with more knowledge the same planet where Raidek is from, so it wouldn't be so suspicious for us and we wouldn't be executed for treason." Calon reasoned. Lana sighed in defeat and decided to let him call.
"I don't want to see his face, I'll be waiting in my cabin." She said walking away from the projector. Gannis' face popped up in a blueish haze. "Hello Calon, I'm guessing you need some help with something?"
"Yes, I'm afraid that's the case." Calon replied. "We got someone we need snuck into Dantooine, a special someone in fact."
"And whom is that said special someone?"
"Raidek Loto."
"The senator's son?! Why do the Kriff do you have him with you!?" Gannis exclaimed.
"When we were at Coruscant he thought it be funny to steal something of ours, turns out he's, um, talented. We decided it was better to take him with us." Calon finished. "How about we meet at this little fueling station here near Dantooine, that's a good place right?"
"Yeah, it's pretty close but I'll be there shortly."
"Good to know, see you soon." Clap. Ended the call and stood up. "Raidek!" He yelled, "Get ready to pack up! You're going home!"
"Bishop, you here?" Vrega said, dirty boots clamping against the metal floor of his ship. "I'm over here sir!" The old B1 droid called out, from the cockpit of the ship. "I'm was recalibrating get the engines for our departure."
"That's great, Bishop. Set course for the Imperial starship Judicious. We gotta meet those Imps again on the same ship." Vrega sighed, resting his head and body against a comfy chair in the cockpit. "Yes sir!" Bishop replied. The droid turned a few switches and lifted off the ground of Felucia.
"Where's the bounty hunter?" Serpion said, foot tapping in impatience as she stood at the holoprojector in the command deck, with the admiral, Pyxis, Amon, and a hologram of General Haron.
"Vrega took his own ship, his ship was cleared for landing just a moment ago." Pyxis announced. "He'll be here shortly. We shouldn't expect such discipline from a mere bounty hunter after all."
"You shouldn't expect someone not to be offended by that statement, baldie." Vrega announced casually strolling in the room. "Seriously, you look like a chocolate ball."
"Now's not the time for foolishness, Mr. Tugruu. We must get discussing the next part of our plan." Haron's blue figure announced. "We have Intel that a possible rebel agent will be on Mandalore in the next following days, and we plan on sending you there, all three of you."
"Why should we care about Mandalore? I'd think THX-1138 would be somewhere less hostile." Serpion commented.
"And we hope so as well. It is believed that a rebel spy is hiding somewhere in the capital city, if we extract him or someone associated with him we could reveal any possible bases that we could find the deserter without complicity. Do as I say, and finish the mission as soon as possible." Haron's figure disappeared and Pyxis was left to himself.
"Good to know that the information is somewhat valid. We'll be heading towards Mandalore in a few days. You are dismissed." He said, Amon and Serpion leaving the holotable. "I'm not staying in this overcompensating Star Destroyer, I'll be taking my own ship." Vrega said, as Serpion and Amon didn't stop to hear his rant.
"Haron was specific when she said you three must remain here. She says that your pay will increase for the inconvenience." Pyxis calmly stated. Vrega grumbled and left the room, boots clacking against the metal floor. "Your cabin is in C level, room number 255." Pyxis yelled across as Vrega was gone from sight.
Raidek sat alone in the hall as he heard Jerriko and Alia talk inside the cabin. He assumed that whatever they were talking about is Jedi stuff, so he tried to listen as closely as he can without them sensing him. He only heard bits of it, but whatever it was it was about him
Jerriko's voice was first, soft and a little imploring. "He's still young... I don't see why not...he has a gift..."
Soon, Alia's voice. "That's why he needs... Raidek is too important... Who by the way is..." The voices got more quiet as Raidek leaned away from the door, thinking of what they mean by his importance, importance to what?
I know you're there. Raidek's heart jumped when he heard Jerriko's voice perfectly inside his own head. He stood up and looked around startled, like a lost animal. Don't freak out Raidek, çome through the door, the voice said again, this time more serious.
Raidek meekly opened the door to the room, with the two Jedi watching him intently. "You see? Hardly any training and he was able to hear me through the Force." Jerrik said, pointing at Raidek as he looked smuggly at Alia. "He's still a novice, at best." Jerrik shrugged it off before Raidek spoke up.
"What were you guys talking about?"
"You." They both replied. "We've been discussing and well, we've reached some conclusions." Said Jerriko.
Alia continued. "We've decided that we should let you have the choice of following the path of the Jedi or not." Raidek was taken back at the offer he had been intorudeced to. He just started this thing, now he was given the option to quit?! Raidek looked at the ground, contemplating his answer for a few minutes as the two other Jedi waited.
"I'll...I'll..." Raidek muttered.
"I'll what?" Jerriko hurried.
"Don't rush him Jerriko." Alia warned. "Let him decide without pressure. Another minute passed by as Raidek sat down to think it through.
"I'll stay, I'll be a Jedi and do all I can." Raidek finished. The two were gonna say something before Raidek continued. "Only because it's the only thing I could do."
"Explain."
"Well, all I did in my life was nothing. I was a senator's son, anything I wanted was given to me. I tried to feel what others felt and stole for fun. Now that I found something I'm actually good at, I'm not giving up that chance." Raidek said, green eyes staring at them with intensity.
"Good. That's very good. But you must know, that each Jedi follows a set of codes of codes that have been around for centuries. Repeat after us." Jerriko said.
"Do it then."
"There is no emotion, there is only peace." The Jedi said in unison.
"What does that mean?" Raidek asked.
"Just don't worry about it. It's up to debate." They said again in unison.
"Okay. There is no emotion, there is only peace."
"There is no ignorance, there is only knowledge."
There's no ignorance, there's only knowledge…"
The freighter pulled up close to an orbiting fueling station hovering near the moon of Dantooine. Lana landed the ship on the platform where Gannis was laying against his ship, whittling wood. Lana begrudgingly dragged Raidek outside to the ship to meet with Gannis.
"Fancy seeing you here Lana." Gannis sarcastically commented.
"Ugh, here's Raidek, go to the capital or whatever and distract the police or whatever." She said, giving Raidek a small pat before giving him a shove to Gannis.
"He's all yours." The Mirialan said, giving a mocking two finger salute. "I'll take great care of him. Have fun." Gannis replied sarcastically.
After Lana left, there was a silent moment before Gannis gestured Raidek to follow him inside his ship. "So...you got holonet inside?"
The freighter entered the orbit of the green and blue planet called Dantooine, a setting sun over in the horizon gave an orange glow that shone bright. "This planet is actually very pretty. Wonder why no one lives here." Jerriko commented, as the ship made its way over the small cities and more to the plains and nature.
"Yeah, touching, very sweet. But it's not the time for reminiscing or whatever." Lana stated, before flipping some switches and calling in the secret frequency. "How did you get on this channel?" A gruff male voice stated, with malice in his voice.
"Danaki sent us." Lana replied. A long silence was aired before the man spoke again.
"You're cleared for landing, we will be sending X-Wings to your location to escort you to our base." The com channel went dead and soon the roaring of two X-Wings came into pitch. "Follow us, we'll be leading you into the area." A female voice crackled, the voice accented.
"I've got your call. Following you." The ship slowed down to the X-Wings pace until they reached a large and unusually patch of forestry, surrounded by a barricading mountain range. The X-Wings slowly lowered down to the ground near a clearing, but the crew of Lana's ship was hesitant. "The kriff are they doing?" Calon muttered, before the rest began saying something similar.
Soon, the green floor of the forest began splitting from the ground, the hole becoming more and more black. The crew stared in amazement as they realize that the entrance was the hole splitting in the earth. And that their base was actually underground.
"Why, that's pretty good place for hiding." Lana admired. "Go check on the crates, recount the blasters before we deliver 'em." She commanded, and Calon and Jerriko went to the crates in the cargo hold.
"They're all here still." Calon yelled after a few minutes. The ship landed with a heavy thud and the everyone looked out the viewport of the cockpit. Everywhere were rebels and starfighters, crates full of supplies and people of varying species running about. The sight was truly a sight to see.
"Anyone there?" The com channel blared, the voice was light female, but seething with experience. "Yeah, where should we drop of these weapons?" Lana said. "Just roll them out, our guys will inspect them." The voice said, before it went quiet.
"Roger that." Lana's freighter landed inside the base and was quickly secured to the floor. The hangar opened out stepped Calon and Jerriko, handling the crates of weapons. They were immediately meant by older looking Bothan commander with graying dark brown hair and yellow eyes. His friend was a tall Human with green eyes and messy dark brown hair, he looked a bit contempt at the present but still had a serious face.
"I'm Commander Dirk of the Rebel Alliance, I'm here in place of Princess Leia of Organa. Are these the weapons that Ms. Lazylaz spoke of?" He asked.
"Yes. I'm Calon Mezad, I was in the 344th Scout Legion before I defected. I here with my girl Lana and two Jedi, Alia Carris and Jerriko Thane." Calon said, holding out his hand. The Bothan slowly shook it before cutting to more pressing matters.
"I understand, Breaan! Check the crates to make sure it's for real." The man next to him nodded and checked the crates, all the weapons still there. "Great, bring whoever you have for discussion and follow Breaan when you're ready." Two other men came and dragged the arms away to some other place leaving them alone and finally ridding the burden of the blasters.
"I'll get the others." Jerriko said running back into the ship.
The short Bothan left with Breaan still standing at attention. "So...Breaan right? Nice to meet you." Calon said.
"Names Breaan. I'll let you guys go get whoever you need. Oh and a little word of advice." Breaan pointed over to a girl very similar looking to him, except much longer hair and big brown eyes, wearing some type of beige robes, repairing some A-Wing. Everynow and then she looked over to the ship with focus."That's my sister, Riley. You do anything to hurt her and you'll be answering to me."
"Oh. Okay, I won't do anything that I don't need to. You're sister is safe with us. If we ever see her." Calon said, hands up in defense.
Soon after Lana, Jerriko, and Alia stepped out the ship to meet with Calon. "All right, let's get moving."
"Calon, dear, I'll be staying with the ship." Lana stated. "Some girl keeps gawking at it and I'm a bit afraid for its wellbeing."
"Okay, let's go then, guys." Breaan lead the way as the two Jedi and Calon followed to their new friend.
"I understand the great length you had to go to escape Calon. It is very rare that we see such a scene, especially from the Stormtrooper Corps." Dirk said, standing on the other side of the map of the sector. "And the weapons were a surprise too. Normally we'd see someone who wouldn't support the rebels or the Empire if they were deserters."
"Well, aren't I just the charmer." Calon awkwardly laughed.
"Right." The Bothan zoomed up the map to the Tarset system, the same system that Arthet is in. "You were station in Arthet correct?"
"Yeah, the planet had a very resistant population that the Empire sent Legions to quash." Calon remembered. "The official Government sided with the Empire but the planet had been in a civil war, with the group who called themselves the 'Coalition of Freer Arthet.' Just a bunch of former Separatists that somehow took control of half the planet."
"Why was Arthet so valuable to the Empire then?" Jerriko asked. "Why would they send resources to this backwater planet?"
"They had a extremely rare and precious mineral called Celerium. No where else this thing can be found. An ounce of it was able to process the entirety of an Imperial-Class Star Destroyer. They've death digging the entire planet to death to find some more the shavit to fuel the things."
"So what's the current situation with the planet?" Breaan asked.
"Last I heard the king, Gio Tantrix III, just had his senate or whatever officially join the Imperial Senate and Government in payment for the Empire's job of ridding al the Separatists." Calon explained.
"Well, we can see that this planet is of great value to the Empire, it's almost the same situation with Lothal five years ago. Calon, you and your team, along with some other rebels here will go to Arthet and bring up insurgency to help drive the Empire away." Stated Dirk. "But before we move on to Arthet, we have an assignment for you. Your first mission with the Rebel Alliance."
"Great! Lay it on us sir!" Alia enthusiastically said.
"It seems that Dantooine's senator, Mr. Loto, had his grandkid kidnapped, we have some possible-"
"We have him." Jerriko interrupted. "He's my padawan, he came with us willingly and he should be here on Dantooine distracting any Imperials of the whereabouts of this base."
"Oh...Good job. I guess here's your second objective." Dirk said, still a bit surprised from the info he had been just learned.
"We have a contact named Seilo Tannrill. A Lorrdian freelancer that we hired as a courier." The mugshot of a slightly tanned man with dark brown hair and blue eyes showed up. The image showed him wearing some green turtleneck with dark gray shoulder armor on both of his shoulders. He had a strong and determined looking face with a strangely large eyepatch over his left eye and a goatee along his chin jawline.
"Woah woah, is this guy single or not?!" Jerriko laughed a little dazed.
"Please don't ruin this by flirting with him Jerriko." Calon sighed. "Is this man a bounty hunter or something? Why is he hired?"
"He's a bounty hunter, and he's worked with the Empire before, but we can assure you that he has no side." The Bothan reassured. "As far as the Empire knows, he still works for them only."
"And if the Empireknew he worked for rebels?" Calon followed up.
"He'd be captured or worse." Dirk answered.
"Can we trust this man?" Alia said.
"For this mission, we have to." The holo changed from the man's picture to an old image of a holodisc. "This holodisc has vital encryption data that Seilo acquired from the Imperial Academy on Mandalore. If we get this back safe and sound then we could access incoming Imperial Traffic."
"Couldn't he just send it?" Jerriko asked.
Dirk leaned his hands in the table. "No he couldn't, he's afraid they've caught wind of him. We will begin sending you there to intercept the disc. Is there anyone you can trust that could let you stay during the time on Mandalore?"
"Yes, our captain Lana is from Mandalore." Alia informed. "Is it safe to assume that her family is trusting Calon?"
"Yeah, her family lives near the capital city and are very anti-Imperial. I believe her father is Journeyman Protector, so he wouldn't rat us out." Calon added.
"Then it's settled. Breaan here and another would be going with you, a slicer named Dari. She does well. Dismissed." The group left the room, but Breaan stayed behind to speak with Dirk.
"Sir, is it possible to bring my sister along, I don't want her alone here without me."
Dirk rubbed his temple. "I've gone over this hundreds of times already Breaan. The mission comes first. Now go."
Breaan left without saying a word, and was gone from sight.
"You built your own ship?" Lana smiled in amazement, looking down at the excitable girl.
"Yeah! I built it out of an old VCX-100 freighter and used some gun turrets from an older Republic Gunship on the underbelly center of the ship. And the cockpit is replaced from a YT-1300!" Riley said, bringing out a holo if the ship. "But it's got hardly any shielding, one good laser and it'll come down in shambles."
"I'm sure you can still make some improvements." Lana comforted. Soon, Calon walked into the hangar with Alia and Raidek, along with Breaan and a blue Twi'lek girl. "Lana, get the ship ready to go home, we're setting for Mandalore."
"Meeting the parents already Calon? Guess you must be completely crazy for me then." Lana smirked.
"I always found Mirialans to be charmingly irresistible." Calon replied. "Our next mission is meeting with a courier in Sundari. I trust that you're parents won't mind us to crash at your home for the time being right?"
"It's something we Mando's have to for friends in need."
"We got two new teammates too!" Alia announced. "The guy's name is Breaan and the girl is Dari." Breaan gave a small nod and Dari waved before shaking Lana's hand.
"I'm honored to be assigned such a daring mission! Especially with someone like Calon, he's like a testament to the power of freethinking you know? And I bet you and your crew never have dull moments!" Dari giddily praised.
"You don't know the half of it. Okay, everyone on the ship." Lana announced. One by one went in, leaving Breaan alone outside with his sister, Riley. "You're going in this mission too, Breaan?"
"Yes, I was ordered to." He answered.
"Then it's the best for the Rebellion. I'll be fine here, don't worry about me, and I'm sure that you'll be find too." Riley said, with a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, Bryan! Hurry up!" Someone yelled from the ship.
"It's Breaan!" He yelled back. "I think it's for the best anyways. This mission could go dangerous in a matter of seconds. Stay safe and remember to punch whoever you need to if they hurt you." Breaan smiled.
"Yeah yeah. Love you bro." She gave Breaan a long hug before he stepped inside the ship. However the hatch didn't close as Dari ran out saying sorry over and over again. Then, a thought came to Riley. The door was open, there was an adventure waiting, it wouldn't hurt if her brother just thinks she's still at the base.
"Okay! I'm back!" Dari called out, hands full of computer slicing equipment when she sat down in the cockpit with the others. "You need a bag for that?" Alia asked.
"No, I got it all!" She happily responded.
"Everyone in their seat?" Lana called. After a murmur of confirmations she started up the ship. The giant doors above opened and the black starry sky revealed itself. The ship lifted off from the ground and made its way up until it was high above the vault doors. The finally reached the sky itself and Lana began setting knobs and switches. "Oh my gosh, this is so exciting!" Dari Whispered.
"Everyone, strap in!" Lana settled the coordinates and activated the light speed, and they shot off.
Dirk watched as the doors closed , the night sky getting blocked away. "Godspeed, gentlemen, Godspeed."
A/N: hello guys and heres a chapter! Updates are longer than usual because of mostly, and you guessed it, school. We've been preparing for finals most of this month, and my math teacher decided to teach us two to three lessons a day for a week to keep us up with the final. But don't fret! I'm managing to find time to write whenever I can and stuff, so hooray!
So far, this chapter had us introduce the crew to the rebel base on Dantooine and we learn some history with Arthet. And yes, I took the name Celerium from Black Ops II. OCs introduced are BrenRomes' Siblings Breaan and Riley Rusork and Gambit Hawk's not fully introduced Seilo Tannrill. Don't worry for their short appearance because they'll be more prevalent next chapter. Hope you liked them BrenRome and Gambit Hawk!
Also, There's a poll on my profile to decide what era the next Star Wars SYOC should be in. Last poll ended with Star Wars winning completely. I'll start the next SYOC sometime in February.
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-Big Bravo (1/30/16)